New England College Hosts Unique Event in Town Hall-Style Format
CONGRESSIONAL JOB INTERVIEW
New England College Hosts Unique Event in Town Hall-Style Format
If you want to show you’re the best candidate for a job, then you have to nail the job interview. That was the idea behind a special event at New England College (NEC) on October 15, when the College’s Center for Civic Engagement presented a series of “job interviews” with candidates for Congress in the first and second districts of New Hampshire.
Three major candidates for Congress each took turns on the stage to face a panel of journalists who asked questions about a myriad of timely topics ranging from current events to individual capabilities and qualifications. Each candidate had 45 minutes to make his or her case for the job. Republican Congressman Charlie Bass, from the second district; his democratic candidate Annie Kuster; and republican Congressman Frank Guinta, from the first district, participated before a live audience of NEC students, professors, and members of the public. Democrat Carol Shea Porter declined to participate.
“Candidates running for major office frequently have to sit down for editorial board meetings with reporters at local newspapers,” explains Dr. Wayne Lesperance, professor of political science at NEC. “This event had a similar feel, only this time there was an audience, raising the stakes a bit. We’ve never had candidates back to back to back in a forum like this before.”
Media partners for the debate included the Concord Monitor, the New Hampshire Business Review, the Nashua Telegraph, and WGIR AM 610. The forum was moderated by Scott Spradling of the Spradling Group. Seating for the event was open to the public and available on a limited first-come, first-served basis.
Each Congressional candidate gave an opening and closing statement and faced a series of questions from the media panel. Answers were not timed, enabling each candidate to expand on his or her views beyond the typical limits of a traditional debate format.
“While we value the opportunity to host debates between the candidates, we are equally thrilled to offer voters, the public, and our students something completely different,” says Dr. Michele Perkins, president of New England College. “We expected each of the three job interviews to have its own unique pace and focus. I’m confident our students and local voters learned something new about each candidate.”
New England College provides an open venue for political candidates wishing to address Town Hall-style gatherings or moderated debates. New England College is a regular stop for presidential candidates during the First in the Nation Primary. The Center for Civic Engagement at NEC was also the lead organizer for the College Convention held during the 2004, 2008, and 2012 presidential election cycles. During the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, the Center for Civic Engagement hosted numerous debates for statewide and federal offices.
For more information about NEC’s active role in the political process, please contact Professor of Political Science Dr. Wayne Lesperance at wlesperance@nec.edu. Dr. Lesperance is a frequent contributor to the dialog on public policy, the political process, and emerging trends in politics.
